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An office job is basically 40+ hours a week of practicing disengagement of the posterior chain (via sitting, likely with poor posture). Deadlifts are such a goo

An office job is basically 40+ hours a week of practicing disengagement of the posterior chain (via sitting, likely with poor posture). Deadlifts are such a good treatment.

sundvor 9y ago
Yes. The deadlift is probably the most universally useful exercise, when executed properly. It really is worth the effort to learn. (Closely followed by the squats.)
- StavrosK 9y ago
  Yes, but it's also quite dangerous, even with proper form. I hurt my back quite badly doing it properly.
  - rfz 9y ago
    You weren't doing it properly.
    - StavrosK 9y ago
      Ah, yes, the well-known "no true deadlift" fallacy. No, you can hurt yourself quite effectively even when doing it properly.
      - rfz 9y ago
        If you're handling weight you shouldn't be handling, obviously; that's when form breaks. Sorry to hear about your back.
        StavrosK 9y ago
        I'm quite sure I wasn't breaking form at the time, and I'm not very satisfied with the explanation that you only get injured when you break form, as then "breaking form" becomes synonymous with injury, not something you can actually do to avoid getting injured.
        sundvor 9y ago
        Were you lifting too heavy for your form? It happened to me, see my other reply just above. Nothing technically wrong with my lift, I believe, except it was too heavy for my overall strength. That lead to eating the humble pie for me.
        StavrosK 9y ago
        I don't think I was, I was doing Starting Strength, so if it was too heavy, it would have been by 1 kilo or so. I doubt it, though, because I had plateaued at the time, so I just lifted around the same weight every time. I wasn't overly exerted, I had done the lift many times with a straight back, etc, something just "popped" during one of the lifts, and my back hurt like hell for weeks, and nowadays that injury comes back once a year or so and renders me unable to move for a few days.
        sundvor 9y ago
        That's a shame. Hopefully you've been able to resume your workouts? If at a very light level, it could help put things back in place. I have a shoulder injury which means I'm struggling to get past 40-45kg on my press. However I'm happy to just keep doing it and terminate at first sense of a twinge; After doing this for a long time it now seems ready to go up a bit.
        StavrosK 9y ago
        No, I quit after a while for not very related reasons. I play tennis nowadays, which is much more enjoyable. According to my PT, what you're doing is what one is supposed to be doing, so that's good. I'm sorry to hear about your injury, though, I hope you recover!
    - tomsthumb 9y ago
      rfz is quite likely right. compound lifts (and even more so the olympic lifts) are _quite_ complicated. chronic compensations and movement issues get ignored in everyday life because they don't cause "problems", but they can manifest into injury when lifting. adding strength to dysfunction is a problem. i've also never heard a fellow lifter at the gym say "my form was perfect and i still got injured", it is _always_ "yea i messed up my from a little and it bit me". despite listening to dozens of hours of coaches and physical therapists talk about this stuff none of them have ever said "some people do it right and just get injured". this paragraph is contextual in the sense that we're talking about people lifting less than 500 pounds. the guys on TV deadlifting 900pounds (400 kilos) are doing something different to their body than the guy at the corner gym lifting 225 pounds. the problem has a lot of facets. most people don't know what their body should feel like. unless they record themselves many people have only a vague idea of what they are doing, and certainly not a good idea of what they might be doing wrong. toss in the fact that you can build enough strength to hurt yourself fairly badly in a couple of months a lot of doctors (general physicians) who don't know what they are talking about will say things like "that's bad for you" because they're helping you avoid injury they best way they know how, which is not to do it.
      - sundvor 9y ago
        Very true. I almost included in my post above that I went about learning deadlifts multiple ways. First, I read Rippetoe's Starting Strength book and watched countless videos. Then, I would take selfie videos of my form that I'd look at myself and share with a few close friends further along in their training than myself to get their feedback. Finally, I also would seek out PTs who looked like they knew their lifts and just book them for single sessions to correct my technique. I would do this several times, as form tends to slide. Well at least for me. Most PTs would offer a free session however I insisted on paying for it as I only wanted the technique check, and not someone to hold my hand every time I needed to go to gym. I think I got respect from them for that. (If I could afford it I'd have their assistance a lot more, alas I couldn't justify it.) Having said that, I still managed to do my back in after a deadlift session last year. Not during the session, but after - as I went to lift my son the same night who suddenly decided to make himself heavy. It hurt a bit but then was ok, however the next morning I completely locked my back up getting out of bed. Lost out on 4-5 months of training thanks to that. Lesson learned: I was probably going too heavy, too soon. Also, to listen to my body and drop the ego 100%. If something doesn't feel right, just stop, let it recover, and save the energy for the next session. About to start the 5x5 Powerlifting program now, with the Android app - am looking forward to seeing the results. The reset will include dropping weights a lot, but also locking in 3 sessions per week - a big increase from my previous 1-2.
- 3131s 9y ago
  I prefer cleans, but to each their own. Deadlifting is great too. For nerds needing inspiration to lift, it's worth checking out my personal favorite Youtube personality, the absolutely ridiculous clarence0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-o1lUurXwc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-o1lUurXwc
- jclos 9y ago
  I would put squat and deadlift at the same rank personally, just because they are very similar in their impact. Closely following behind them would be a vertical pressing exercise (e.g. barbell overhead press) and a vertical pulling exercise (e.g. chin-ups or pull-ups) because it feels great to decompress the spine after putting so much weight on it.
  - sundvor 9y ago
    I agree, it's hard to split squat and deadlifts in terms of how good they are. Do them both! And yes, overhead press is fantastic - it's a great way of engaging the whole body too. I need to be doing chin ups more, however just a bit too fat to do them in numbers; have just been hanging off the bar to stretch my spine out.
jclos 9y ago
They are, provided they are done correctly. One of the bad side effects of sitting so much is that one is constantly putting all their weight on their glutes and hamstrings, which can have some nefarious consequences when trying to deadlift (namely that the lower back ends up taking most of the load, instead of it being partitioned between lumbars - glutes - hamstrings - quadriceps). If you can afford it, a good coach is key. If you can't, spending a couple of months watching videos and drilling the lift with light weights while filming yourself to correct your posture is a good plan B.
- seanp2k2 9y ago
  Some places have standing desks now. I almost never sit at work now, except in meetings. I also have a FluidStance balance board that I stand on while at my desk. I like this combo a lot. It's not a great workout, but I've noticed a lot less back trouble vs sitting.

An office job is basically 40+ hours a week of practicing disengagement of the posterior chain (via sitting, likely with poor posture). Deadlifts are such a good treatment.

sundvor 9y ago

Yes. The deadlift is probably the most universally useful exercise, when executed properly. It really is worth the effort to learn. (Closely followed by the squats.)

StavrosK 9y ago
Yes, but it's also quite dangerous, even with proper form. I hurt my back quite badly doing it properly.
- rfz 9y ago
  You weren't doing it properly.
  - StavrosK 9y ago
    Ah, yes, the well-known "no true deadlift" fallacy. No, you can hurt yourself quite effectively even when doing it properly.
    - rfz 9y ago
      If you're handling weight you shouldn't be handling, obviously; that's when form breaks. Sorry to hear about your back.
      - StavrosK 9y ago
        I'm quite sure I wasn't breaking form at the time, and I'm not very satisfied with the explanation that you only get injured when you break form, as then "breaking form" becomes synonymous with injury, not something you can actually do to avoid getting injured.
        sundvor 9y ago
        Were you lifting too heavy for your form? It happened to me, see my other reply just above. Nothing technically wrong with my lift, I believe, except it was too heavy for my overall strength. That lead to eating the humble pie for me.
        StavrosK 9y ago
        I don't think I was, I was doing Starting Strength, so if it was too heavy, it would have been by 1 kilo or so. I doubt it, though, because I had plateaued at the time, so I just lifted around the same weight every time. I wasn't overly exerted, I had done the lift many times with a straight back, etc, something just "popped" during one of the lifts, and my back hurt like hell for weeks, and nowadays that injury comes back once a year or so and renders me unable to move for a few days.
        sundvor 9y ago
        That's a shame. Hopefully you've been able to resume your workouts? If at a very light level, it could help put things back in place. I have a shoulder injury which means I'm struggling to get past 40-45kg on my press. However I'm happy to just keep doing it and terminate at first sense of a twinge; After doing this for a long time it now seems ready to go up a bit.
        StavrosK 9y ago
        No, I quit after a while for not very related reasons. I play tennis nowadays, which is much more enjoyable. According to my PT, what you're doing is what one is supposed to be doing, so that's good. I'm sorry to hear about your injury, though, I hope you recover!
  - tomsthumb 9y ago
    rfz is quite likely right. compound lifts (and even more so the olympic lifts) are _quite_ complicated. chronic compensations and movement issues get ignored in everyday life because they don't cause "problems", but they can manifest into injury when lifting. adding strength to dysfunction is a problem. i've also never heard a fellow lifter at the gym say "my form was perfect and i still got injured", it is _always_ "yea i messed up my from a little and it bit me". despite listening to dozens of hours of coaches and physical therapists talk about this stuff none of them have ever said "some people do it right and just get injured". this paragraph is contextual in the sense that we're talking about people lifting less than 500 pounds. the guys on TV deadlifting 900pounds (400 kilos) are doing something different to their body than the guy at the corner gym lifting 225 pounds. the problem has a lot of facets. most people don't know what their body should feel like. unless they record themselves many people have only a vague idea of what they are doing, and certainly not a good idea of what they might be doing wrong. toss in the fact that you can build enough strength to hurt yourself fairly badly in a couple of months a lot of doctors (general physicians) who don't know what they are talking about will say things like "that's bad for you" because they're helping you avoid injury they best way they know how, which is not to do it.
    - sundvor 9y ago
      Very true. I almost included in my post above that I went about learning deadlifts multiple ways. First, I read Rippetoe's Starting Strength book and watched countless videos. Then, I would take selfie videos of my form that I'd look at myself and share with a few close friends further along in their training than myself to get their feedback. Finally, I also would seek out PTs who looked like they knew their lifts and just book them for single sessions to correct my technique. I would do this several times, as form tends to slide. Well at least for me. Most PTs would offer a free session however I insisted on paying for it as I only wanted the technique check, and not someone to hold my hand every time I needed to go to gym. I think I got respect from them for that. (If I could afford it I'd have their assistance a lot more, alas I couldn't justify it.) Having said that, I still managed to do my back in after a deadlift session last year. Not during the session, but after - as I went to lift my son the same night who suddenly decided to make himself heavy. It hurt a bit but then was ok, however the next morning I completely locked my back up getting out of bed. Lost out on 4-5 months of training thanks to that. Lesson learned: I was probably going too heavy, too soon. Also, to listen to my body and drop the ego 100%. If something doesn't feel right, just stop, let it recover, and save the energy for the next session. About to start the 5x5 Powerlifting program now, with the Android app - am looking forward to seeing the results. The reset will include dropping weights a lot, but also locking in 3 sessions per week - a big increase from my previous 1-2.
3131s 9y ago
I prefer cleans, but to each their own. Deadlifting is great too. For nerds needing inspiration to lift, it's worth checking out my personal favorite Youtube personality, the absolutely ridiculous clarence0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-o1lUurXwc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-o1lUurXwc
jclos 9y ago
I would put squat and deadlift at the same rank personally, just because they are very similar in their impact. Closely following behind them would be a vertical pressing exercise (e.g. barbell overhead press) and a vertical pulling exercise (e.g. chin-ups or pull-ups) because it feels great to decompress the spine after putting so much weight on it.
- sundvor 9y ago
  I agree, it's hard to split squat and deadlifts in terms of how good they are. Do them both! And yes, overhead press is fantastic - it's a great way of engaging the whole body too. I need to be doing chin ups more, however just a bit too fat to do them in numbers; have just been hanging off the bar to stretch my spine out.

jclos 9y ago

They are, provided they are done correctly. One of the bad side effects of sitting so much is that one is constantly putting all their weight on their glutes and hamstrings, which can have some nefarious consequences when trying to deadlift (namely that the lower back ends up taking most of the load, instead of it being partitioned between lumbars - glutes - hamstrings - quadriceps). If you can afford it, a good coach is key. If you can't, spending a couple of months watching videos and drilling the lift with light weights while filming yourself to correct your posture is a good plan B.

seanp2k2 9y ago
Some places have standing desks now. I almost never sit at work now, except in meetings. I also have a FluidStance balance board that I stand on while at my desk. I like this combo a lot. It's not a great workout, but I've noticed a lot less back trouble vs sitting.